Dru Sjodin’s Stepfather Dies Of Cancer

CROSSLAKE, Minn. (AP) — The man who threw himself into the search for his stepdaughter Dru Sjodin has died from colorectal cancer.

Sidney “Sid” Walker was 74 when he died Sunday.

The 22-year-old Sjodin from Pequot Lakes was a University of North Dakota student when she disappeared from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks in 2003. Her body was later found in a ravine near Crookston.

Alfonso Rodriguez was convicted of abducting, raping and killing Sjodin in 2006. He is on death row at an Indiana prison pending appeals.

Sjodin’s mother, Linda Walker, told the Grand Forks Herald that her husband knew about the cancer when Sjodin was abducted and he lived longer than doctors thought he would.

I understand the connection, I just don’t think this man was a relevant enough part of the case itself that this would be mentioned. Again, no offense intended, as all of us are loved and will be missed by somebody. I just don’t understand the reason we needed (or wanted) to know this information.

On another note, I was actually serving time in St. Croix County jail both when Dru was kidnapped, and when she was found. I remember the inmates being very mad that this happened.